Chapter 142: The Opener
Here Comes the King. This is the way.
What must it be like for Jordan Walker this morning?
The young man didn’t know until a few days ago that he was going to start living his dream as a major league baseball player. He knew that he could play at this level, he knew he’d had a good spring, but he didn’t know that the dream was coming that quickly.
Now it’s here.
Do you think he slept much last night? Was it like a kid on Christmas Eve, unable to shut down because he was so excited about the gifts waiting? Do you think he found YouTube clips of past Opening Days in St. Louis, watching the Clydesdales going around the track or the Hall of Famers standing at attention? He’s basically moments away from what he’s worked for his whole life. What must that be like?
What must it be like for Nolan Arenado this morning?
The man eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. He feels so at home in St. Louis that he forewent opting out of his contract this winter, likely costing himself another $100 million. It’s not about the money, though. (Of course, it does help when you have millions already socked away!) It’s about playing competitive baseball, winning baseball. He’s had a taste of the postseason for two years now, a divisional title last year. You know he wants more.
Now he can start after it.
I doubt Nolan ever gets much sleep the night before Opening Day. He was probably pacing around the house, bat in hand, watching clips of Alek Manoah on repeat. He’s excited about the pageantry, of course, but he’s more excited about the vista of 162 games laid out before him with that promised land of October baseball just beyond.
What must it be like for Adam Wainwright this morning?
This was supposed to be his day. One last Opening Day start, one last warming up in the pen while John Ulett read off the starting lineups. To once more take the mound with that roaring sea of red that is strong on most days but hits new heights in the postseason and for the first home game in Busch Stadium each year.
Now he will miss it.
He’ll be there, of course. He’ll get to take in the festivities after his groin issue put him on the injured list. He’ll ride in his Ford truck, he’ll (carefully) hop out and acknowledge the crowd, he’ll exchange hugs with Chris Carpenter and Scott Rolen. He’ll do all the things that he’ll be doing for many Opening Days to come, once he’s no longer playing the game. Is he dealing with the melancholy this morning? Is the finality of this last ride starting to settle on him? He came back for this season in part because he was hurt at the end of the last one. Now another injury has to have him pondering that baseball mortality.
Every year it’s the same. Every year it’s different.
The traditions are all there, but the names change. People like Walker, Brendan Donovan, Willson Contreras get to experience their first taste of how St. Louis does their first game. People like Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Steven Matz have been here before and know they’ll be here again. People like Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks either know or at least can legitimately consider the possibility this will be the last time they experience this excitement in this way.
The expectations are the same, but the confidence level changes. St. Louis always demands winning baseball and for almost two and a half decades, they’ve gotten it. Some years, you go into the season hoping that this is the year. Some years, you go in expecting it is. This season, we probably enter it not expecting a World Series but not being surprised if one comes. The lineup looks fearsome and the pitching staff looks reasonable enough. The 2004 Cardinals had the MV3 and a rotation headed by Jeff Suppan. Sometimes, all you need is just enough.
Whether it is the year the Cardinals get #12 or if it somehow is the first losing season since 2007, it’s St. Louis Cardinals baseball and it’ll be with us almost every day from now until October 1 and hopefully many more nights after that. It’s great entertainment, what a wonderful group of people rallies around as a common interest, and the basis for some fun Twitter games.
Get your red on. Fire up the TV or, if you are one of the 40,000 lucky ones, head down to the stadium. It’s time for Cardinals baseball.